Teamsters union jump into rideshare drivers' rights fight

Another major union is wading into the burgeoning labor fight against Uber and Lyft, while one lawmaker slammed the companies as "cowards" over their expensive ballot question campaign.

Members of Teamsters Local 25 on Sunday unanimously endorsed legislation that would declare drivers for transportation and delivery network companies to be employees who are owed minimum wage and other protections and benefits, pitching the proposals as "critical to our union" at a pivotal moment in a larger labor battle affecting workers across different sectors.

"Workers' wages, work rules, benefits, and pension plans are all at stake in this fight," said Teamsters Local 25 President Tom Mari. "We can't allow greedy CEOs from Silicon Valley to destroy the good jobs we fought to create in Massachusetts."

The bill the union backed (H 1158 / S 627) seeks a labor law that would make it explicit that drivers for transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft and delivery network companies like DoorDash are employees, not independent contractors. Drivers would be guaranteed access to the same benefits and protections as other employees, plus mileage reimbursement at the IRS standard rate, accidental liability insurance and access to a deactivations appeal process, according to a bill summary.

How drivers are classified is the central tension animating years of debate. The popular app-based companies argue that most of their drivers prefer to be treated as independent contractors because that offers greater flexibility to set their own hours and work for multiple platforms, but state prosecutors contend that doing so violates existing state law.

It's a critical juncture for the topic. Over the next seven months, the attorney general's 2020 lawsuit against Uber and Lyft will go to trial, voters could get a chance to decide simultaneously whether to define drivers as contractors under state law and whether drivers should be able to unionize, and Beacon Hill might be pressed into action to reconcile the political mess.

Sen. Lydia Edwards of Boston, who filed the Teamsters-backed bill with Democrat Rep. Andy Vargas of Haverhill, joined union members at their monthly meeting and vote Sunday in Charlestown, where she criticized Uber and Lyft's treatment of workers.

"Employee status, not independent contractor, employee status comes with a huge amount of rights that we fought for. We need to keep employee status," Edwards said. "That is vital, and that's what this bill does. Labor did that."

"We were here before Uber and Lyft, we'll be here after Uber and Lyft. But they came here and they're acting like they're the exception, like they're exceptional," she soon added. "We all know that's bullshit. It's the same exploitation we've seen over and over again."

The Vargas and Edwards bill also has the support of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. But while many unions want reforms, they are taking different paths.

32BJ SEIU and the International Association of Machinists are pursuing separate legislation (H 1099 / S 666) and a similar, but scaled-back, ballot question that would provide drivers with a path to unionization and collective bargaining.

Teamsters endorsed only the Edwards and Vargas bill strengthening employee status, not the unionization question, according to a union spokesperson.

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart are pushing their own ballot question that would roll out some new benefits to drivers while enshrining in law that they are independent contractors. An executive at Lyft told lawmakers last month that the companies had "no choice" but to propose putting the matter before voters given the implications of the attorney general's lawsuit.

"Our preference is to work with you all, work with the Legislature, find a compromise, but unfortunately, we have no choice but to pursue these ballot initiatives," Brendan Joyce, Lyft's public policy manager in Massachusetts, said at a March 19 hearing.

Edwards on Sunday described the industry-funded campaign as "what cowards do."

"They're going to try and change the rules. That's what the ballot initiative is. That's it," she said. "They have a set of laws that they want and they're going to shove it down the throats of the people of Massachusetts and hope they vote for it. They're just going to change the rules. That's not fair."

Lawmakers continue to review the intertwined ballot questions, and can approve the measures or propose substitutes. If they take no action by May 1, supporters will need to collect more voter signatures to secure a spot on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Both driver-related campaigns will be active this week. Drivers who support the company-backed independent contractor measure plan to rally at Worcester City Hall on Tuesday, while labor leaders and drivers who support the unionization question will gather outside the State House on Wednesday with national SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.